Category: Workshops

The Fortified Beats performance on the 17th of October will celebrate the work of young people in Conwy Alternative Education who have created a series of short films and musical pieces reflecting the life and times of The Princes of Gwynedd.

STOP PRESS

Poke the Muse at TAPE has had confirmation that thanks to funding from Conwy Communities First and the continued support of creative partners Conwy Wellbeing Team and Conwy Arts, the Open Studio sessions on a Monday afternoon will now be running regularly right the way through to March 2017!

The only breaks will be for Bank Holidays, so if you can carve out a couple of hours between 1.30 and 3.30, come along to enjoy some creative ‘me’ time. No pressure to produce, just freedom to explore and play with paper, pens, paints, inks, stamps, pencils, collage, words, images: whatever you fancy. Inspiration and prompts are offered around monthly themes, but you are welcome to work on your own project or simply have fun with the materials and equipment.

July’s theme is Victoriana. We’ve tried to include a bit of everything from inventions and discoveries, through social, political and industrial upheavals to the Pre-Raphaelites and Steam Punk – our current take on some of the intriguing machines, inventions, art, fashion and fiction of the era.

Next Monday July 11th Poke the Muse at TAPE is a little different.
Following what will probably be a shorter open studio session we are going to set the hall up for an Open Mic event for people to read and perform their work.
It is also a celebration to mark the publication of Poke the Muse’s first collection of writing and artwork.

Please feel free to bring yourself, friends and family to enjoy the show, have a look at the exhibition of work produced in sessions and buy a copy of The Collection!

Sessions are £1 contribution per person – refreshments are available at 50p each. booking is essential as places are limited.

For more details or to book your place, please contact Dee on 07982 709621 or via email dee.rivaz@gmail.com

Poke the Muse is back throughout June, and this months theme is poetry and art.

Prompts will be available for inspiration should you wish to use them, but everyone is encouraged to work on their own projects at their own speed and however they wish.

As always, creativity is encouraged in a unique, relaxing and supportive atmosphere with likeminded folk.

Work produced during the sessions will be exhibited – should you so wish.

The dates for the June Poke the Muse sessions are:

Monday 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

The session on Monday 13th June is a special workshop featuring Carol Downes, exploring the works of Paul Klee and how poetry can influence art.
The session will involve listening and reading the poetry provided and responding to this visually, then converting the image to a Batik (Wax resist method on fabric).

Sessions are £1 contribution per person – refreshments are available at 50p each. booking is essential as places are limited.

For more details or to book your place, please contact Dee on 07982 709621 or via email dee.rivaz@gmail.com

With thanks to Gwanwyn for a grant to help celebrate their fesival of creativity in older age, TAPE Community Arts Centre is offering two afternoon workshops on 9th and 16th May, as part of their Poke the Muse group sessions.

Aiming to offer a creative ‘oasis’, whatever your experience or skill, these sessions offer the opportunity to work in a relaxed setting with materials on hand to explore portraiture in writing or art. You are free to work individually of course but we also hope people will have a go at collaborating to draw out each other’s stories in image and word. There will be plenty of inspiration and guidance, if required.

On hand too, will be pencils, pens, paper, paints, rollers, stamps and other materials to use as you wish. Participants will be invited to submit artwork or writing developed during and after the event, for inclusion in a collection of outcomes and a month long exhibition which will open during the Gwanwyn Festival week.

People are too used to thinking, talking or portraying themselves in an apologetic way. These sessions will invite you to poke your apologetic self in the ribs and take time out to have fun, surprise yourself and to celebrate what you love about yourself and your life!

Sessions are free, however places are limited. Please contact Dee to book your place on 07982 709621 or email dee.rivaz@gmail.com

Another week and another leap forward in progress with the latest installment of Rhyl Reflections.

This week we focussed on the lovely Jean Sedgewick, who we have previously worked with on the project when we interviewed her about her personal memories of Rhyl.

Our location was the magnificent Tir Prince funfair – somewhere that Jean and her family have always had connections with.

We had around 10 of the Rhyl Reflections team out with us during our session.

Jean talks about her fond memories of living and working on the fair – such as elephants being washed in the sea by the visiting circus – something you certainly wouldn’t see today!

Jean even recanted memories of Bob Monkhouse himself gracing the nightclubs in the area!

Jean’s piece goes on to recall the ‘tricks of the fair trade’ – and how patrons were ‘gently encouraged’ to participate in the fair games!

And to top it off, Jean explains how her husbands family trained animals for a living – including a bear that went on to find movie stardom in the US.

This weeks session really was a special one – thanks to everyone who came along and offered their time and skills to help film this wonderful segment of the Rhyl Reflections film.

A big thank you to Adam Williams and his team at Tir Prince Fun Park for their hospitality.

Huge thanks, as always, to Linda Hurst for her fab photos on the set!

Rhyl Reflections is a project run by TAPE in collaboration with Denbighshire Communities First. We welcome all who wish to take part, regardless of ability, whether it be in front of the camera, or behind, learning skills on set.

It was a new experience for me, filming in somewhere like a fair, and one that I really enjoyed!
– Mark Jackson

I got some new and interesting shots, which is building up experience for me. I’m really loving learning the camera techniques -and Jean’s stories are like gold dust!
– Stuey Jones

Where do I start? I get really nervous, so asking the questions has helped me improve my confidence. I find Jeans stories fascinating and I enjoyed being able to ad-lib some of the questions during the interview.
– Paula Jones

Following the taster workshop of ‘Poke The Muse’/’Procio ‘r Awen in March, local artist Dee Rivaz will be offering 3 further workshops on Monday the 4th, 11th and 18th April, from 1.30pm – 3.30pm.

Sessions are free, however places are limited. Please contact Dee to book your place on 07982 709621 or email dee.rivaz@gmail.com

Whatever your experience or skill, these sessions aim to offer a creative ‘oasis’; the opportunity to work in a relaxed setting with materials on hand to explore ideas in writing or art. You are free to work individually or in collaboration with others and we hope you will experiment outside your comfort zone, perhaps trying a different medium to work in or working with someone else on a collaborative piece…

Following an introduction of the session theme, participants are simply guided to the display of prompts and suggestions to respond as and how they like. Pencils, pens, paper, paints, rollers, stamps and other materials are available on a self help basis: with a limited stock offered for sale to take for home use. You are invited to leave spontaneous work for exhibition and to submit any future work developed out of the sessions for inclusion in exhibitions and publications.

We hope in due course to inspire and gather enough material to add open mic sessions to the exhibition of outcomes and to set up a Folk Art-Lit Press, a small publishing house that caters for writers and artists in the community.

There is an exhibition currently running at TAPE, to give an idea of what went on at the taster event for ‘Poke The Muse’/’Procio ‘r Awen in March, and some of the work that came out of it. Participants are welcome to submit artwork or writing developed after the event at any time they like for inclusion in future exhibitions, publications and open mic events.

With thanks to Conwy Arts and Creative Wellbeing for the kind sponsorship of Poke the Muse/Procio ‘r Awen.

From Monday 21st March 2016 we welcome local artist Dee Rivaz to TAPE as she delivers ‘Poke The Muse’ – a brand new creative workshop which experiments with artist collaboration.

Beginning with 4 initial pilot workshops, Poke The Muse sessions focus on a series of prompts and ideas, and attendees will be invited to respond with writing, image or even both.

Although people are very welcome to work individually, attendees are also encouraged and may find it fun to collaborate with other people and extend dialogue via prose, words, imagery and expression through creative medium.

We hope that you will become more experimental as the sessions progress and as individual and collaborative work progresses.

Depending on the amount and type of work produced during the pilot sessions, there may be an exhibition or performance/open mic exhibit for the last session and maybe even a nice little publication – the outcomes are up to you.

This is a marvellous opportunity for anyone who practices or is interested in the creative arts and would like to experiment and converse with other creative types to push their ideas a little further and provoke some fresh inspiration. No matter what your skill, craft or area, all are welcome to take part.

Poke the Muse starts on Monday 21st March 2016 and runs from 1.30pm – 3.30pm.

Sessions are free, however places are limited. Please contact Dee to book your place on 07982 709621 or email Dee: dee.rivaz@gmail.com

With thanks to Conwy Arts and Conwy Creative Wellbeing for the kind sponsorship for materials.